New retirement plan - Ole!

Dave and I have a new thought for our retirement years.  Dave is going to learn classical guitar and I will learn to dance and we will open a flamenco bar.  We figure this should work on a number of levels: Amy will get to wear really great dresses, it's safer than the option of taking up bullfighting, and there's lots of money to be made from tourists.  Needless to say, we went to a flamenco performance this evening, which was a great way to cap off what started as a pretty rotten day.

We began the day with money-aquiring troubles AGAIN.  It's not really safe to carry around a lot of cash in the first place, we usually never have more than $20 or $40 in our wallets at any time at home.  So we count on using the ATMs for cash advances from Dave's account or accessing my Albion account while traveling.  This has not been a great plan so far in Spain.  It worked fine last year in France and Hungary, as well as in the Netherlands last week, but in Spain it has been a complete nightmare.  Previously both our banks told us we could go to any bank anywhere, present our card and ID and we could get a cash advance.  And we believed this.  This is not true here.  We went into 3 different banks, with the phrase book and the correct phrasing, and were told each time that it was not possible, that is what the ATMs are for outside. What is also a problem is that Spanish banks are only open until 2:00 pm.  Every Day. Spain is 6 hours ahead of Michigan, so by the time we call AGAIN to talk about what is going on, it is 4:00 pm here. Dave's bank finally released the security on his card, sent him a list of places he SHOULD be able to get cash, and off we went again, this time successfully getting the cash we need to get us through the rest of the trip.

On a fun note, we had some great sightseeing, as we visited the Seville cathedral. We have lost track of names we have been to so many cathedrals.  I guess it is technically Santa Maria de la Sede.  This one was really cool because it is largest cathedral by area in the world, and it also has Christopher Columbus' tomb.  We spent a good couple of hours there looking at their large collection of reliquaries and climbing the tower that is the highest point in the city.  The tower is shown in the pictures above.

We also visited the Alcazar, another Moorish site converted to a Christian palace after the fall of the Moorish empire to the Spainiards and another stop on our tour of influential Escher sites.  More tiles, more plaster work to Allah, more gardens and fountains.  But fabulous sightseeing.  A few photos we took are shown above.

View of the cathedral tower at sunset from out hotel roof.  Antennas are quite popular here.

We bought some dinner from the deli across the street - jamon y queso pequeno, coke-light and a cerveza. Pequeno is supposed to be small, but these were 6: subs by Subway standards.  Yummy!  We ate on the rooftop patio at our hotel and enjoyed the breeze, as it was 90 degrees here today.  I bought some sunscreen before we left the Netherlands because my sun exposure in Michigan in the winter is below nothing and I was completely pale.  It has come in handy as we have been on the go outside and it has been in the high 70's and 80's here with no clouds in sight.

The view looking down from our hotel window.  This cafe is across the "street" from our hotel.

A little more on the flamenco we saw - great dancing with a troupe of 5 women dancers, 3 guitarists and 2 additional male singers.  Each section of performance was about 15 minutes long and the show was 2 hours total in length.  Lots of fast dancing, some castanets and guitar strumming so fast the mens' hands were a blur. Absolutely breathtaking. We had a great time.

Tomorrow we take the bus to Cordoba to see the Mezquita, yet another Moorish site and witness the spectacle that is Palm Sunday in an almost totally Catholic country.  The preparations in Seville have been impressive as there will be parades, viewing areas, and all sorts of costumes being readied.  We have even seen teams of people practicing carrying the floats for the parade. We are hopeful it will be as exciting in Cordoba!